Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated - Jun 28, 1914 - HISTORY.com Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated Publisher A+E Networks In an event that is widely acknowledged to have sparked the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is shot to death along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on this day in 1914. The great Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck, the man most responsible for the unification of Germany in 1871, was quoted as saying at the end of his life that “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” It went as he predicted. The archduke traveled to Sarajevo in June 1914 to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Ottoman territories in the turbulent Balkan region that were annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908 to the indignation of Serbian nationalists, who believed they should become part of the newly independent and ambitious Serbian nation.

The date scheduled for his visit, June 28, coincided with the anniversary of the First Battle of Kosovo in 1389, in which medieval Serbia was defeated by the Turks. Despite the fact that Serbia did not truly lose its independence until the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448, June 28 was a day of great significance to Serbian nationalists, and one on which they could be expected to take exception to a demonstration of Austrian imperial strength in Bosnia. June 28 was also Franz Ferdinand’s wedding anniversary. His beloved wife, Sophie, a former lady-in-waiting, was denied royal status in Austria due to her birth as a poor Czech aristocrat, as were the couple’s children. In Bosnia, however, due to its limbo status as an annexed territory, Sophie could appear beside him at official proceedings. On June 28, 1914, then, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were touring Sarajevo in an open car, with surprisingly little security, when Serbian nationalist Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at their car; it rolled off the back of the vehicle and wounded an officer and some bystanders.

Later that day, on the way to visit the injured officer, the archduke’s procession took a wrong turn at the junction of Appel quay and Franzjosefstrasse, where one of Cabrinovic’s cohorts, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, happened to be loitering. Seeing his opportunity, Princip fired into the car, shooting Franz Ferdinand and Sophie at point-blank range. Princip then turned the gun on himself, but was prevented from shooting it by a bystander who threw himself upon the young assassin. A mob of angry onlookers attacked Princip, who fought back and was subsequently wrestled away by the police. Meanwhile, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie lay fatally wounded in their limousine as it rushed to seek help; they both died within the hour. The assassination of Franz-Ferdinand and Sophie set off a rapid chain of events: Austria-Hungary, like many in countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Slav nationalism once and for all.

As Russia supported Serbia, an Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention–which would likely involve Russia’s ally, France, and possibly Britain as well. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed. Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun. Related Videos Archduke Ferdinand assassinated - Jun 28, 1914 - HISTORY.com Archduke Ferdinand assassinated Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The killings sparked a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I by early August.

On June 28, 1919, five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand’s death, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially marking the end of World War I. The archduke traveled to Sarajevo in June 1914 to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. The annexation had angered Serbian nationalists, who believed the territories should be part of Serbia. A group of young nationalists hatched a plot to kill the archduke during his visit to Sarajevo, and after some missteps, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip was able to shoot the royal couple at point-blank range, while they traveled in their official procession, killing both almost instantly. The assassination set off a rapid chain of events, as Austria-Hungary immediately blamed the Serbian government for the attack. As large and powerful Russia supported Serbia, Austria asked for assurances that Germany would step in on its side against Russia and its allies, including France and possibly Great Britain.

On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the fragile peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed, beginning the devastating conflict now known as the First World War. After more than four years of bloodshed, the Great War ended on November 11, 1918, after Germany, the last of the Central Powers, surrendered to the Allies. At the peace conference in Paris in 1919, Allied leaders would state their desire to build a post-war world that was safe from future wars of such enormous scale. The Versailles Treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, tragically failed to achieve this objective. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s grand dreams of an international peace-keeping organization faltered when put into practice as the League of Nations. Even worse, the harsh terms imposed on Germany, the war’s biggest loser, led to widespread resentment of the treaty and its authors in that country–a resentment that would culminate in the outbreak of the Second World War two decades later.

Related Videos On This Day In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand Was Assassinated (PHOTOS) | The Huffington Post On This Day In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand Was Assassinated (PHOTOS) 06/28/2014 11:37 am ET | Updated Jul 28, 2014 Amanda Golden Editor-at-Large, Colgate University On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were on their way to a hospital in Sarajevo, when a young nationalist pulled out his gun and fired shots at short range. Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb, hit the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in the jugular vein. When the young man then tried to kill the Austrian governor of Sarajevo , he hit Sophie instead. One month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, triggering what would become known as one of the most gruesome wars in European history. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek boarding a car just prior to his assassination in Sarajevo.

(AP Photo) Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia riding in their car, minutes before their assassination on June 28, 1914. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) An artist's rendition shows the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Sophie, The assassin, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, left, of the group Black Hand, was captured. (AP Photo) Front page of of Czech Daily 'Narodni Listy' carrying the news about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. (/AFP/Getty Images) Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, 1914 Printer Friendly Version >>> Two bullets fired on a Sarajevo street on a sunny June morning in 1914 set in motion a series of events that shaped the world we live in today. World War One, World War Two, the Cold War and its conclusion all trace their origins to the gunshots that interrupted that summer day. Berliners cheer a regiment of Lancers headed for the Front. August 1914 The victims, Archduke Franz Ferdinand - heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie, were in the Bosnian city in conjunction with Austrian troop exercises nearby.

The couple was returning from an official visit to City Hall. The assassin, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip burned with the fire of Slavic nationalism. He envisioned the death of the Archduke as the key that would unlock the shackles binding his people to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A third party, Serbia, figured prominently in the plot. Independent Serbia provided the guns, ammunition and training that made the assassination possible. The Balkan Region of Europe entered the twentieth century much as she left it: a caldron of seething political intrigue needing only the slightest increase of heat to boil over into open conflict. The shots that day in Sarajevo pushed the caldron to the boiling point and beyond. ADVERTISMENT A Royal Murder Seven conspirators joined the crowd lining the Archduke's route to City Hall. Each took a different position, ready to attack the royal car if the opportunity presented itself. The six-car procession approached one conspirator, Gabrinovic (or Cabrinovic), who threw his bomb only to see it bounce off the Archduke's car and explode near the following car. Unhurt, the Archduke and his wife sped to the reception at City Hall.

The ceremonies finished, the Royal procession amazingly retraced its steps bringing the Archduke into the range of the leader of the conspiracy, Gavrilo Princip. More amazingly, the royal car stopped right in front of Princip providing him the opportunity to fire two shots. Both bullets hit home. Borijove Jevtic, one of the conspirators gave this eyewitness account: "When Francis Ferdinand and his retinue drove from the station they were allowed to pass the first two conspirators. The motor cars were driving too fast to make an attempt feasible and in the crowd were many Serbians; throwing a grenade would have killed many innocent people. When the car passed Gabrinovic, the compositor, he threw his grenade. It hit the side of the car, but Francis Ferdinand with presence of mind threw himself back and was uninjured. Several officers riding in his attendance were injured. The cars sped to the Town Hall and the rest of the conspirators did not interfere with them. After the reception in the Town Hall General Potiorek, the Austrian Commander, pleaded with Francis Ferdinand to leave the city, as it was seething with rebellion. The Archduke was persuaded to drive the shortest way out of the city and to go quickly.

Members of the crowd try to attack Princip after his capture The road to the maneuvers was shaped like the letter V, making a sharp turn at the bridge over the River Nilgacka [Miljacka]. Francis Ferdinand's car could go fast enough until it reached this spot but here it was forced to slow down for the turn. Here Princip had taken his stand. As the car came abreast he stepped forward from the curb, drew his automatic pistol from his coat and fired two shots. The first struck the wife of the Archduke, the Archduchess Sofia, in the abdomen. She was an expectant mother. She died instantly. The second bullet struck the Archduke close to the heart. He uttered only one word, 'Sofia' -- a call to his stricken wife. Then his head fell back and he collapsed. He died almost instantly. The officers seized Princip. They beat him over the head with the flat of their swords. They knocked him down, they kicked him, scraped the skin from his neck with the edges of their swords, tortured him, all but killed him." Another Perspective Count Franz von Harrach rode on the running board of the royal car serving as a bodyguard for the Archduke.

His account begins immediately after Princip fires his two shots: The Archduke and his wife leave City Hall. Count Harrach rides the running board "As the car quickly reversed, a thin stream of blood spurted from His Highness's mouth onto my right check. As I was pulling out my handkerchief to wipe the blood away from his mouth, the Duchess cried out to him, 'In Heaven's name, what has happened to you?' At that she slid off the seat and lay on the floor of the car, with her face between his knees. I had no idea that she too was hit and thought she had simply fainted with fright. Then I heard His Imperial Highness say, 'Sopherl, Sopherl, don't die. Stay alive for the children!' At that, I seized the Archduke by the collar of his uniform, to stop his head dropping forward and asked him if he was in great pain. He answered me quite distinctly, 'It's nothing!' His face began to twist somewhat but he went on repeating, six or seven times, ever more faintly as he gradually lost consciousness, 'It's nothing!' Then, after a short pause, there was a violent choking sound caused by the bleeding.

It was stopped as we reached the Konak." References: Brook-Shepard, Gordon, Archduke of Sarajevo (1984); Dedijer, Vladimir, The Road To Sarajevo (1966); Morton, Frederick, Thunder At Twilight (1989). How To Cite This Article: "Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, 1914," EyeWitness to History, (1998). Gavrilo Princip (age 19) was sentenced to twenty years of hard labor. He escaped the death penalty because he was under the age of 21. Three other conspirators were tried including Cabrinovic, the bomb-thrower. He and another under-aged conspirator received a sentence of 20 years hard labor. The 3rd conspirator, Danilo Ilic, was executed on Feb. 3, 1915. Princip died in prison of tuberculosis on April 28, 1918. His two fellow conspirators preceded him in death, also dying of tuberculosis.

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The Murder That Started World War I Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, 1914. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images) By Tarkan Rosenberg, Contributing Writer Updated July 30, 2016. On the morning of June 28, 1914, a 19-year-old Bosnian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Sophie and Franz Ferdinand, the future heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary (the second-largest empire in Europe) in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip, a simple postman’s son, probably didn’t realize at the time that by firing those three fateful shots, he was starting a chain reaction that would lead directly to the start of World War I .

A Multinational Empire In the summer of 1914, the by now 47-year-old Austro-Hungarian Empire stretched from the Austrian Alps in the west to the Russian border in the east and reached far into the Balkans to the south ( map ). It was the second-largest European nation next to Russia and boasted a multi-ethnic population made up of at least ten different nationalities. These included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Romanians, Italians, Croats and Bosnians among others. continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance But the empire was far from united. Its various ethnic groups and nationalities were constantly competing for control in a state that was predominantly ruled by the Austrian-German Habsburg family and the Hungarian nationals—both of whom resisted sharing the majority of their power and influence with the rest of the empire’s diverse population. For many of those outside the German-Hungarian ruling class, the empire represented nothing more than an undemocratic, repressive regime occupying their traditional homelands.

Nationalistic sentiments and struggles for autonomy often resulted in public riots and clashes with the ruling authorities such as in Vienna in 1905 and in Budapest in 1912. The Austro-Hungarians responded harshly to incidents of unrest, sending in troops to keep the peace and suspending local parliaments. Nevertheless, by 1914 unrest was a constant in almost every part of the realm. Franz Josef and Franz Ferdinand: A Tense Relationship By 1914, Emperor Franz Josef —a member of the long-standing royal House of Habsburg—had ruled Austria (called Austria-Hungary from 1867) for nearly 66 years. As a monarch, Franz Josef was a staunch traditionalist and remained so well into the later years of his reign, despite the many great changes that had led to the weakening of monarchical power in other parts of Europe. He resisted all notions of political reform and viewed himself as the last of the old-school European monarchs. Emperor Franz Josef fathered two children. The first, however, died in infancy and the second committed suicide in 1889.

By right of succession, the emperor’s nephew, Franz Ferdinand , became next in line to rule Austria-Hungary. The uncle and the nephew often clashed over differences in approach to ruling the vast empire. Franz Ferdinand had little patience for the ostentatious pomp of the ruling Habsburg class. Nor did he agree with his uncle’s harsh stance towards the rights and autonomy of the empire’s various national groups. He felt the old system, which allowed ethnic Germans and ethnic Hungarians to dominate, could not last. Franz Ferdinand believed the best way to regain the population’s loyalty was to make concessions towards the Slavs and other ethnicities by allowing them greater sovereignty and influence over the governance of the empire. He envisioned the eventual emergence of a type of “United States of Greater Austria,” with the empire’s many nationalities sharing equally in its administration. He believed strongly that this was the only way to keep the empire together and to secure his own future as its ruler. The result of these disagreements was that the emperor had little love for his nephew and bristled at the thought of Franz Ferdinand’s future ascension to the throne.

The tension between them grew even stronger when, in 1900, Franz Ferdinand took as his wife the Countess Sophie Chotek . Franz Josef did not consider Sophie to be an appropriate future empress as she was not directly descended from royal, imperial blood. Serbia: The "Great Hope" of the Slavs In 1914, Serbia was one of the few independent Slavic states in Europe, having gained its autonomy piecemeal throughout the previous century after hundreds of years of Ottoman rule. The majority of Serbs were staunch nationalists and the kingdom saw itself as the great hope for the sovereignty of Slavic peoples in the Balkans. The great dream of Serbian nationalists was the unification of Slavic peoples into a single sovereign state. The Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, however, were perpetually struggling for control and influence over the Balkans and Serbs felt under constant threat from their powerful neighbors. Austria-Hungary, in particular, posed a threat due to its close proximity to Serbia’s northern border.

The situation was exasperated by the fact that pro-Austrian monarchs—with close ties to the Habsburgs—had ruled Serbia since the late 19th century . The last of these monarchs, King Alexander I, was deposed and executed in 1903 by a clandestine society comprised of nationalistic Serbian army officers known as the Black Hand . It was this same group that would come to help plan and support the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand eleven years later. Dragutin Dimitrijević and the Black Hand The aim of the Black Hand was the unification of all southern Slavic peoples into the single Slavic nation-state of Yugoslavia—with Serbia as its leading member— and to protect those Slavs and Serbs still living under Austro-Hungarian rule by any means necessary. The group relished in the ethnic and nationalistic strife that had overtaken Austria-Hungary and sought to stoke the flames of its decline. Anything that was potentially bad for its powerful northern neighbor was seen as potentially good for Serbia. The high-ranking, Serbian, military positions of its founding members put the group in a unique position to carry out clandestine operations deep within Austria-Hungary itself.

This included army colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, who would later become the head of Serbian military intelligence and leader of the Black Hand. The Black Hand frequently sent spies into Austria-Hungary to commit acts of sabotage or to foment discontent amongst Slavic peoples inside the empire. Their various anti-Austrian propaganda campaigns were designed, especially, to attract and recruit angry and restless Slavic youths with strong nationalistic sentiments. One of these youths—a Bosnian, and a member of the Black Hand-backed youth movement known as Young Bosnia—would personally carry out the murders of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, and thus help to unleash the biggest crisis ever to face Europe and the world to that point. Gavrilo Princip and Young Bosnia Gavrilo Princip was born and raised in the countryside of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had been annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908 as a means to preempt Ottoman expansion into the region and to thwart Serbia’s aims for a greater Yugoslavia . Like many of the Slavic peoples living under Austro-Hungarian rule, Bosnians dreamed of the day when they would gain their independence and join a larger Slavic union alongside Serbia.

Princip, a young nationalist, left for Serbia in 1912 to continue the studies he had undertaken in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. While there, he fell in with a group of fellow nationalist Bosnian youths calling themselves Young Bosnia. The young men in Young Bosnia would sit long hours together and discuss their ideas for bringing about change for Balkan Slavs. They agreed that violent, terroristic methods would help to bring about a speedy demise of the Habsburg rulers and ensure the eventual sovereignty of their native homeland. When, in the spring of 1914, they learned of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s visit to Sarajevo that June, they decided he would be a perfect target for assassination. But they would need the help of a highly organized group like the Black Hand to pull off their plan. A Plan Is Hatched The Young Bosnians’ plan to do away with the archduke eventually reached the ears of Black Hand leader Dragutin Dimitrijević , the architect of the 1903 overthrow of Serbia’s king and by now chief of Serbian military intelligence.

Dimitrijević had been made aware of Princip and his friends by a subordinate officer and fellow Black Hand member who had complained of being pestered by a group of Bosnian youths bent on killing Franz Ferdinand. By all accounts, Dimitrijević very casually agreed to help the young men; although secretly, he may have received Princip and his friends as a blessing. The official reason given for the archduke’s visit was to observe Austro-Hungarian military exercises outside the city, as the emperor had appointed him inspector general of the armed forces the previous year. Dimitrijević, however, felt sure the visit was nothing more than a smokescreen for a coming Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, though no evidence exists to suggest such an invasion was ever planned. Furthermore, Dimitrijević saw a golden opportunity to do away with a future ruler who could seriously undermine Slavic nationalistic interests, were he ever to be allowed to ascend to the throne.

The Serbian nationalists knew well of Franz Ferdinand’s ideas for political reform and feared that any concessions made by Austria-Hungary towards the empire’s Slavic population could potentially undermine Serbian attempts at fomenting discontent and inciting Slavic nationalists to rise up against their Habsburg rulers. A plan was devised to send Princip, along with Young Bosnian members Nedjelko Čabrinović and Trifko Grabež, to Sarajevo, where they were to meet up with six other conspirators and carry out the assassination of the archduke. Dimitrijević, fearing the assassins’ inevitable capture and questioning, instructed the men to swallow cyanide capsules and commit suicide immediately after the attack. No one was to be allowed to learn who had authorized the murders. Concerns Over Safety Initially, Franz Ferdinand never intended to visit Sarajevo itself; he was to keep himself outside the city for the task of observing military exercises. To this day it is unclear why he chose to visit the city, which was a hotbed of Bosnian nationalism and thus a very hostile environment for any visiting Habsburg.

One account suggests that Bosnia’s governor-general, Oskar Potiorek—who may have been seeking a political boost at Franz Ferdinand’s expense— urged the archduke to pay the city an official, all day visit. Many in the archduke’s entourage, however, protested out of fear for the archduke’s safety. What Bardolff and the rest of the archduke’s entourage did not know was that June 28 was a Serb national holiday— a day that represented Serbia’s historical struggle against foreign invaders. After much debate and negotiation, the archduke finally bent to Potiorek’s wishes and agreed to visit the city on June 28, 1914, but only in an unofficial capacity and for only a few hours in the morning. Getting Into Position Gavrilo Princip and his co-conspirators arrived in Bosnia sometime in early June. They had been ushered across the border from Serbia by a network of Black Hand operatives, who provided them with faked documents stating the three men were customs officials and thus entitled to free passage. Once inside Bosnia, they met up with six other conspirators and made their way toward Sarajevo, arriving in the city sometime around June 25.

There they stayed in various hostels and even lodged with family to await archduke’s visit three days later. Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, arrived in Sarajevo sometime before ten in the morning of June 28. After a short welcoming ceremony at the train station, the couple was ushered into a 1910 Gräf & Stift touring car and, along with a small procession of other cars carrying members of their entourage, made their way to the Town Hall for an official reception. It was a sunny day and the car’s canvas top had been taken down to allow for the crowds to better see the visitors. A map of the archduke’s route had been published in the newspapers prior to his visit, so spectators would know where to stand in order to catch a glimpse of the couple as they rode by. The procession was to move down the Appel Quay along the northern bank of the Miljacka River. Princip and his six co-conspirators had also obtained the route from the newspapers. That morning, after receiving their weapons and their instructions from a local Black Hand operative, they split up and positioned themselves at strategic points along the riverbank.

Muhamed Mehmedbašić and Nedeljko Čabrinović mingled with the crowds and positioned themselves near the Cumurja Bridge where they would be the first of the conspirators to see the procession going by. Vaso Čubrilović and Cvjetko Popović positioned themselves further up the Appel Quay. Gavrilo Princip and Trifko Grabež stood near the Lateiner Bridge toward the center of the route while Danilo Ilić moved about trying to find a good position. A Tossed Bomb Mehmedbašić would be the first to see the car appear; however, as it approached, he froze with fear and was unable to take action. Čabrinović, on the other hand, acted without hesitation. He pulled a bomb from his pocket, struck the detonator against a lamp post, and tossed it at the archduke’s car. The car’s driver, Leopold Loyka, noticed the object flying towards them and hit the accelerator. The bomb landed behind the car where it exploded, causing debris to fly and nearby shop windows to shatter. About 20 onlookers were injured.

The archduke and his wife were safe, however, save for a small scratch on Sophie’s neck caused by flying debris from the explosion. Immediately after throwing the bomb, Čabrinović swallowed his vial of cyanide and jumped over a railing down into the riverbed. The cyanide, however, failed to work and Čabrinović was caught by a group of policemen and dragged away. The Appel Quay had erupted into chaos by now and the archduke had ordered the driver to stop so that the injured parties could be attended to. Once satisfied that nobody was seriously injured, he ordered the procession to continue to the Town Hall. The other conspirators along the route had by now received news of Čabrinović’s failed attempt and most of them, probably out of fear, decided to leave the scene. Princip and Grabež, however, remained. The procession continued on to the Town Hall, where Sarajevo’s mayor launched into his welcoming speech as if nothing had happened. The archduke immediately interrupted and admonished him, outraged at the bombing attempt that had put him and his wife in such danger and questioned the apparent lapse in security.

The archduke’s wife, Sophie, gently urged her husband to calm down. The mayor was allowed to continue his speech in what was later described by witnesses as a bizarre and otherworldly spectacle. Despite reassurances from Potiorek that the danger had passed, the archduke insisted on abandoning the day’s remaining schedule; he wanted to visit the hospital to check on the wounded. Some discussion on the safest way to proceed to the hospital ensued and it was decided that quickest way would be to go by the same route. The Assassination Franz Ferdinand’s car sped down the Appel Quay, where the crowds had thinned out by now. The driver, Leopold Loyka, seemed to have been unaware of the change of plans. He turned left at the Lateiner Bridge toward Franz Josef Strasse as if to proceed to the National Museum, which the Archduke had planned to visit next prior to the assassination attempt. The car drove past a delicatessen where Gavrilo Princip had bought a sandwich. He had resigned himself to the fact that the plot was a failure and that the archduke’s return route would have been altered by now.

Somebody yelled out to the driver that he had made a mistake and should have kept going along the Appel Quay to the hospital. Loyka stopped the vehicle and attempted to reverse as Princip emerged from the delicatessen and noticed, to his great surprise, the archduke and his wife only a few feet from him. He pulled out his pistol and fired. Witnesses would later say they heard three shots. Princip was immediately seized and beaten by bystanders and the gun wrested from his hand. He managed to swallow his cyanide before being tackled to the ground but it, too, failed to work. Count Franz Harrach, the owner of the Gräf & Stift car that was carrying the royal couple, heard Sophie cry out to her husband, “What has happened to you?” before she appeared to faint and slump over in her seat.1 Harrach then noticed that blood was trickling from the archduke’s mouth and ordered the driver to drive to the Hotel Konak—where the royal couple was supposed to stay during their visit—as quickly as possible. The archduke was still alive but barely audible as he continually muttered, “It is nothing.” Sophie had completely lost consciousness.

The archduke, too, eventually fell silent. The Couple’s Wounds Upon arriving at the Konak, the Archduke and his wife were carried up to their suite and attended to by regimental surgeon Eduard Bayer. The archduke’s coat was removed to reveal a wound in his neck just above the collarbone. Blood was gurgling from his mouth. After a few moments it was determined that Franz Ferdinand had died from his wound. “His Highness’s suffering is over,” the surgeon announced.2 Sophie had been laid out on a bed in the next room. Everyone still assumed she had simply fainted but when her mistress removed her clothes she discovered blood and a bullet wound in her lower right abdomen. She had already been dead by the time they had reached the Konak. Aftermath The assassination sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Austro-Hungarian officials discovered the Serbian roots of the plot and declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914 -- exactly one month after the assassination. Fearing reprisals from Russia, which had been a strong ally of Serbia, Austria-Hungary now sought to activate its alliance with Germany in an attempt to scare the Russians out of taking action.

Germany, in turn, sent Russia an ultimatum to stop mobilizing, which Russia ignored. The two powers—Russia and Germany—declared war on each other on August 1, 1914. Britain and France would soon enter the conflict on the side of Russia. Old alliances, which had been dormant since the 19th century, had suddenly created a dangerous situation across the continent. The war that ensued, World War I , would last four years and claim the lives of millions. Gavrilo Princip never lived to see the end of the conflict he helped to unleash. After a lengthy trial, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison (he avoided the death penalty due to his young age). While in prison, he contracted tuberculosis and died there on April 28, 1918. 1 Greg King and Sue Woolmans, The Assassination of the Archduke (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013), 207. 2 King and Woolmans, 208-209.

First World War: Reports of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo | World news | The Guardian Close Assassination crisis The Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, nephew of the aged emperor and heir to the throne, was assassinated in the streets of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, yesterday afternoon. His wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, was killed by the same assassin. Some reports say the duchess was deliberately shielding her husband from the second shot when she was killed. One victim was struck in the body and the other in the face; the telegrams are contradictory about which wound the archduke suffered and which his wife. Two attempts were made on the archduke's life during the day. He was in Bosnia directing the manoeuvres of the Austrian Army Corps stationed in the province, and had devoted yesterday to a procession through the capital. During the morning a bomb was thrown at the imperial motor-car, but its occupants escaped unhurt. In the afternoon in another part of the town a Serb student fired a revolver at the car, killing both the archduke and the auchess.

Bosnia and Herzegovina have been in Austrian occupation since 1878, when the Treaty of Berlin authorised the dual monarchy to hold the two provinces. In 1908 Austria, without consulting the other parties to the treaty, annexed the occupied territory. Austria-Hungary is, as a result of territorial divisions and constitutional differences, ruled partly by the Germans and partly by the Magyars. The Slavs, who are a great majority of the people, numbering 22,500,000 against 11,000,000 Germans and 9,000,000 Magyars, remain indignantly hostile to such a political system. Sarajevo, 6pm: The assassin of the archduke and his wife is a student named Gavrilo Prinzip. He is 19 and was born at Grahovo, in the district of Livno. He studied for some time in Belgrade. Prinzip declared he had intended for a long time to kill some eminent personage from nationalist motives. He made his attempt where the car had to slacken speed when turning into Francis Joseph Strasse.

As the duchess was in the car he hesitated, but afterwards quickly fired two shots. The archduke was regarded in certain Serbian quarters as one of the greatest opponents of the pan-Serbian movement. · Manchester Guardian, June 29 1914 Chancellor Lloyd George later recalls a timely warning ... "I remember that some time in July, an influential Hungarian lady called upon me at 11 Downing Street and told me that we were taking the assassination of the archduke much too quietly; that it had provoked such a storm throughout the Austrian Empire as she had never witnessed - and that unless something were done immediately, it would certainly result in war with Serbia, with the incalculable consequences which such an operation might precipitate in Europe. However, such official reports as came to hand did not seem to justify the alarmist view she took. · The War Memoirs of David Lloyd George (Nicholson & Watson, 1933-38) Austria's warning to Serbia Soldiers arrest Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassin, Gavrilo Prinzip, in Sarajevo.

Photograph: Corbis A semi-official communiqué issued in Budapest warns Serbia that although Austria-Hungary does not desire a war with Serbia, she expects the Serbian government to fulfil all those obligations in connection with "the crime which was undoubtedly promoted in Belgrade". The Austrian emperor, Francis Joseph, has addressed letters to the Austrian and Hungarian premiers expressing the grief caused him by the death of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and his determination to follow the way which he knows to be right to his last breath for the welfare of his peoples. He has also issued a proclamation to the army and navy couched in similar language: "We bow in grief before the will of the Almighty, who has demanded an immeasurable sacrifice from me, from my forces and our Fatherland.

Nevertherless, I do not give up hope of a prosperous future, convinced that, in every trial, the monarchy will find its sure refuge in the devotion even to death of the Austro-Hungarian forces, which nothing can shake from their loyalty." Budapest, Saturday: The Pester Lloyd [German-language daily newspaper] publishes the following communique: "Austria-Hungary does not desire a war with Serbia, but is justified in expecting that Serbia should in every respect fulfil the duties of an honourable neighbour. The tone which the semi-official newspaper Samouprava adopts in discussing relations with our monarchy is a sad proof that the Serbian government is unacquainted with the most elementary principles of international courtesy. We can only advise Belgrade to make an immediate change in this respect, and to take care to fulfil honourably all those obligations which are incumbent upon the Serbian government in connection with the crime, which was undoubtedly promoted in Belgrade." From our own correspondent, Berlin: Germany is shaken by the crime of Sarajevo. Its consequences to the Fatherland are second only to those which must inevitably accrue to Austria-Hungary itself.

Will the dual monarchy be as trustworthy an ally without the strong hand of Archduke Francis Ferdinand guiding the army and navy? That is the question uppermost in the German mind. I was at Kjel when the news of the murder reached the kaiser. What everyone said, when the shock had worn away, was that perhaps the disappearance of Austria's "war lord" might be a blessing in disguise for peace in general and Germany in particular. All the world knows it was William II who restrained Francis Ferdinand's hand at the time of the Serbian imbroglio a year or two ago. But these eminent personages' second thoughts were that Germany had suffered truly incalculable loss in the man who had practically created a new Austrian-Hungarian army and navy. Will the work he had started go on? Will his ideals of military efficiency continue to take precedence over internal political bickerings in the parliaments of Vienna and Budapest? How the Germans will confront the new contingency which has arisen will well be worth the watching. · Manchester Guardian, July 5 1914 The Chancellor nails his colours to the mast ...

"If a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace could only be preserved by the surrender of the great and beneficient position Britain has won by centuries of heroism and achievement, by allowing Britain to be treated where her interests were vitally affected as if she were of no account in the cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically that peace at that price would be a humiliation intolerable for a great country like ours to endure." · David Lloyd George speaking at Mansion House, July 21 1911 ... and Germany reacts fiercely We found Sir Edward Grey in his room at the House of Commons. His first words were: "I have just received a communication from the German ambassador so stiff that the fleet might be attacked at any moment!" ... The ambassador had said that, after the speech of the chancellor of the exchequer, no explanation could be made by Germany. In acrid terms he had stated that if France should repel the hand offered her by the emperor's government, the dignity of Germany would compel her to secure by all means full respect by France for German treaty rights. Sir Edward Grey thought it right to reply that the tone of this communication rendered it inconsistent with the dignity of his majesty's government to give explanations.

They sound so very cautious and correct, these deadly words. Soft, quiet voices purring courteous, grave, exactly-measured phrases in large peaceful rooms. But with less warning, cannons had opened fire, and nations had been struck down by this same Germany. · From The World Crisis, 1911-1918, by Winston Churchill. Reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Ltd on behalf of the estate of Winston Churchill. © Winston S Churchill · This article was amended on Thursday November 13 2008. Lloyd George gave his Mansion House speech warning that Britain would not tolerate interference in its international interests in 1911, not 1914. This has been corrected. Villain or hero? Sarajevo is split on archduke's assassin Gavrilo Princip | World news | The Guardian First world war Villain or hero? Sarajevo is split on archduke's assassin Gavrilo Princip 100 years after the Bosnian-Serb radical murdered Austria's Franz Ferdinand the city is still divided on his actions Gavrilo Princip, the Bosnian-Serb nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP Andrew MacDowall in Sarajevo Friday 27 June 2014 06.08 EDT First published on Friday 27 June 2014 06.08 EDT Close This article is 2 years old For one half of the city, he was the national hero who fought against imperial oppression and fully deserves a new park in his name. For the other half he is a villain who killed a pregnant woman and brought a flourishing epoque to an end. Gavrilo Princip, the Bosnian-Serb radical who set in train a chain of events that led to the outbreak of the first world war will be the central figure in Sarajevo this weekend as the city marks 100 years since he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. The anniversary is being marked by concerts, conferences and exhibitions, as the city projects itself as a beacon of peace following a century in which it has been associated with war.

But stark divisions remain, both from the most recent war between 1992-1995, in which 100,000 people died and Sarajevo suffered a 1,425-day siege by Serb forces, and events 100 years ago. Princip remains a polarising figure, revered by many of Bosnia's Serbs, but derided as a murderer by the country's Muslims and Croats. "For the past 100 years, the information that the world has received from here was about war and atrocities," says Ivo Komsic, Sarajevo's mayor. "Now we're sending a different message of peace, love and understanding." This is Sarajevo's biggest international moment since the end of the Bosnian war almost 20 years ago. A range of international figures are attending ceremonies on Saturday, including a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra at the newly restored city hall, where Franz Ferdinand attended a reception shortly before the assassination, and which housed the city's library, destroyed by Serb artillery during the war. The presidents of several European countries are expected. The UK is sending Baroness Warsi.

Just before midnight, a choir will sing on the Latin Bridge, beside which Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife Sophie were killed by Princip. However, the ceremonies are being boycotted by the president and prime minister of Serbia , who claim that a plaque on the city hall commemorating the 1992 bombardment and the loss of almost 2m books denigrates the Serb people. Despite his message of goodwill, Komsic presides over only a part of an ethnically divided city. Nineteen years after the war ended, Bosnia operates as two "entities", the predominantly Muslim and Croat Federation, and the overwhelmingly Serb-dominated Serb Republic (RS). The highly autonomous RS was recognised by the peace settlement. Many Muslims regard it as the product of ethnic cleansing, while for Serbs its existence is a guarantor of peace. Swaths of the capital lie in the RS, where the administration of Istocno (east) Sarajevo operates separately, the two not even joined by public transport.

In emergency cases, citizens of Istocno Sarajevo cannot be treated in the city centre's general hospital, Komsic notes, instead having to be taken 120 miles to Banja Luka, the capital of the RS. In Istocno Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip is still lauded by many as a national hero who fought against Austrian oppression. Milorad Dodik, the republic's strongman prime minister, is expected to open a new park and name it after the assassin. In the Communist Yugoslav era, Princip was regarded as a revolutionary hero who fought for the freedom of all southern Slavs, but now Bosnia is independent it is largely Serbs who cling to this view. In a chic Italian restaurant on a Sarajevo boulevard still named after Communist dictator Tito, Asim Sarajlic, a senior MP of the Muslim-nationalist SDA party, says that for Muslims and Croats, Princip brought to an end a golden era of history under Austrian rule.

"When the Austrians first occupied in 1878, Bosnians refused to accept the empire, but in nearly 40 years, they did more for Bosnia than all the other rulers did in centuries – building railways, cities and institutions. The Austrians gave us a lot – modern systems of government, education and healthcare. For normal citizens of Sarajevo, it was a crime for Princip to kill an innocent pregnant lady and her husband who came to celebrate the accomplishments of Austria. We are strongly against the mythology of Princip as a fighter for freedom." But sitting in the house he is building in Istocno Sarajevo amid meadows poignantly dotted with poppies, Nebojsa Grubac, who fought in the Serb army in the early 1990s, is incensed about the change in how Princip's actions are interpreted. "They're trying to change history," he says. "I learned in school that he was a hero, and now they're trying to paint him as an aggressor – fuck that!" He sees Princip, and Bosnia, as the innocent victim of Great Power politics that have led to repeated conflicts.

Despite differences over history – and having fought against Muslims less than two decades ago – Grubac feels no ill-will towards the other ethnic groups in Bosnia. He says that 80% of the work on his house was done by Muslims. He grew up in what is now the Muslim-dominated part of the city, and is still good friends with a Muslim he used to play with as a child, who fought for the Bosnian side during the war. Only one of his Muslim acquaintances refuses to greet him. But he adds there is still fear that prevents the united Bosnia he would like to see – and that another war is a real possibility, due to the machinations of nationalist politicians. One of the few bright spots in recent years has been the Bosnian national football team's first World Cup, even though the team was eliminated in the group stages. In a bar in Sarajevo's Grbavica district, yards from what was the front line during the siege, young Bosnians decked out in the country's colours cheer on the side during its last match, an emphatic victory over Iran.

"To be honest, I don't really care about the anniversary," says Tarik, a 29-year-old web designer who works for a British company. "I think Princip was a coward who killed a pregnant woman." For him, there are more pressing concerns. Frustrated with a lack of opportunities in Bosnia, he is looking for work in Germany, where he fled with his family as refugees during the war. Serbian leaders and Bosnian Serbs stay away from Sarajevo ceremony to mark 100th anniversary of first world war spark Published: 28 Jun 2014 First world war: How the Manchester Guardian reported the murder of the Austro-Hungarian archduke by Gavrilo Princip Published: 26 Jun 2014 Special feed to mark 100th anniversary since archduke's fateful assassination will chart diplomatic traffic until declaration of war Published: 27 Jun 2014 Big Society? More like Battered Society. Melissa Benn on two books that expose the 'war on the weakest' in Cameron's Britain Published: 18 Jun 2014

Question: Who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914?
Answer: Gavrillo Princip